Faxed claims focaus of dispute

Two prospectors and their agent are disputing the ownership of 13 claims staked by Gold Fields Mining last October. A hearing has been launched in Thunder Bay, Ont., to investigate the validity of Gold Fields’ Moss Lake claims, whichwere the first in history to be recorded through a fax machine.

The dispute, filed by prospectors James Martin and Costy Bumbu last November, questions Gold Fields’ staking and recording methods and its stated time of staking, according to Thunder Bay’s The Times News. Both parties staked the same ground, but Gold Fields beat the prospectors to the Thunder Bay recording office.

David Terry, the Gold Fields agent, told the hearing that the necessary application forms were filled out and photocopied the night before claims were opened for staking. One of the forms was also signed that night.

According to Terry, when the claims opened the next day (Oct.31/90), a helicopter picked up the signed forms from the Gold Fields stakers and dropped them at a nearby motel, where they were faxed to Terry in Thunder Bay. Terry then submitted them to mining recorder Roy Spooner.

Filling out forms and signing others before the claims could be staked were “false” and “improper” under Mining Act regulations, said the prospectors’ lawyer.

According to The Times News, however, the lawyer for the defence argued that the claim forms were valid because they were used only after the claims had been staked. The claims in question surround the Jackfish mine, a former gold producer, and lie just a few miles from the bulk-tonnage gold play of Central Crude (TSE), Storimin Exploration (ASE) and Tandem Resources (TSE).

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